This invention was made under, or during the course of, a contract with the United States Department of Energy.
The removal of sulfurous gases from a gas stream was often achieved by gas-liquid "washing" operations, particularly where the gas was passed through a salt solution. Such washing operations are disclosed in Hawkes, U.S. Pat. No. 2,689,164, granted Sept. 14, 1954; Buxton, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 3,574,556, granted Apr. 13, 1971; and Kruger, U.S. Pat. No. 3,988,422, granted Oct. 26, 1976. Moore, U.S. Pat. No. 3,919,390, granted Nov. 11, 1975 proposes to clean fuel gases by passing the fuel gases through molten carbonates.
It was early recognized in the art that effluent gases may be scrubbed by passing the effluent over water insoluable carbonates in the presence of water as disclosed in Canon, U.S. Pat. No. 1,716,028, granted June 4, 1929.
Craig et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,966,431, granted June 29, 1976, discloses another desulfurization containing a CaO/CaS particulate material.
In Capell et al, U.S. Pat. No. 2,433,426, granted Dec. 30, 1947, it was disclosed that hydrogen sulfide could be removed by contact with an iron oxide and hydrated fuller's earth absorbent.
There is now provided by the present invention a method of solid particulate-gas desulfurization, wherein the presence of sulfurous iron compounds improve the absorption of the particulate sorbent, such as limestone.
It is therefore a principle object of this invention to provide a method for the improved desulfurization of gases by solid sorbents.
It is another object of this invention to provide a method as aforesaid for fuel gas desulfurization.
It is still another object of this invention to provide a method as aforesaid to improve the absorption of sulfurous gases by limestone particulates.
It is still a further object of this invention to provide a method as aforesaid which may be used in conjunction with coal gasification processes.
The aforesaid as well as other objects and advantages will become apparent from a reading of the following description and the adjoined claims.